2009/07/30

Swearing ’helps to reduce pain’說髒話有助減輕疼痛

◎鄭寺音

Uttering expletives when you hurt yourself is a sensible policy, according to scientists who have shown swearing can help reduce pain.

受傷時罵髒話是一項明智的策略,根據證明罵髒話有助減輕疼痛的科學家指出。

A study by Keele University researchers found volunteers who cursed at will could endure pain nearly 50% longer than civil-tongued peers.

基爾大學的研究人員發現,隨意罵髒話者比講話彬彬有禮的同儕,忍受疼痛的時間長將近50%。

Dr Stephens, from Keele’s school of psychology, came up with the idea for the study after swearing when he accidentally hit his thumb with a hammer as he built a garden shed. He recruited 64 volunteers to take part and each individual was asked to submerge their hand in a tub of freezing water for as long as possible while repeating a swear word of their choice.

基爾大學心理學院的史蒂文斯教授,在搭建花園小屋不小心被鎚子捶到大拇指之後,有了罵髒話可減痛的想法。他召募64名志願者參加,每名志願者被要求把手浸入冰水桶中,持續時間越久越好,同時重複咒罵自己想罵的髒話。

They were then asked to repeat the experiment, this time using a more commonplace word that they would use to describe a table.

接著志願者被要求重複同樣的實驗,此次是要他們說會用來描述一張桌子的較平常的話語。

On average, the students could tolerate the pain for nearly two minutes when swearing compared with only one minute and 15 seconds when they refrained from using expletives.

這些學生在咒罵時,平均可以忍受近2分鐘的痛苦,而節制不罵髒話時,僅能維持1分15秒。

新聞辭典

expletive:名詞,咒罵語。例句:She dropped the book on her foot and let out a string of expletives.(她的腳被掉落的書砸到,咒罵連連。)

civil:形容詞,彬彬有禮的。例句:His manner was civil, though not particularly friendly.(他的態度彬彬有禮,不過並不特別友善。)

submerge:動詞,把……浸入水中。例句:She was taken to hospital after being submerged in an icy river for 45 minutes.(她浸在冰冷的河水中45分鐘之後,被送去醫院。)

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